1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to graphical user interfaces and, more particularly, but without limitation, to an architecture for a graphic network pull install interface.
2. Background Information and Description of the Related Art
A network user typically desires to install software from a remote location to his/her local machine. Therefore, developers have created conventional software installation packages within the local machine to allow for remote software installation. However, those conventional software packages have certain disadvantages and limitations. For example, to successfully use the installation packages, the local machine must know the network's topology, the remote machine's type and configuration, the commands necessary to initiate the install, the names of the directories and files to be installed, and the location/type of source media containing the software to be installed. Typically, the software installation package prompts the user for this information.
Further, the local machine must follow specific installation steps in sequence without error to ensure proper installation. Therefore, there is no mechanism for recovery or detection of an error during the installation process. Additionally, conventional installation packages do not provide a means for tracking the latest versions of software. Rather, the user must query the operating system to determine the latest version of software. Moreover, conventional installation packages do not have inherent mechanisms for ensuring security. As such, if a local machine has access to a remote machine, the system administrator is burdened with ensuring that the proper restrictions are in place so that the user only has access to the software s/he needs to install and has no other file access on the remote machine. In addition to administrative tasks that protect the file structure of the remote machine, there are organizational tasks that the system administrator must perform, including repetitively issuing installation steps to each type of remote machine requesting software and scheduling a time for the installation to occur on each one of the remote machines. Although none of these aforementioned tasks are difficult for an experienced system administrator, they are tedious and, therefore, error prone.
Accordingly, there is a great demand for a user interface that not only presents the software available for selection by the user from the remote machine, but also provides the most efficient setup path for the system administrator managing the remote machine. To meet these demands, this user interface should provide a mechanism for detecting and recovering from errors during the installation process, provide a means for grouping the software and for tracking the latest versions of installed software, for including inherent mechanisms to ensure security, and for scheduling the installation.